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A look at some of the worst bike lanes on the planet

A look at some of the worst bike lanes on the planet

When we sent out a message on Twitter asking for photographic evidence of the worst bike lanes on the planet, the response was huge. Apparently, there are a lot of crappy bike lanes out there, and people are not happy about it. The variety of mistakes shown demonstrates that it isn’t just about size, or […]

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When we sent out a message on Twitter asking for photographic evidence of the worst bike lanes on the planet, the response was huge. Apparently, there are a lot of crappy bike lanes out there, and people are not happy about it.

The variety of mistakes shown demonstrates that it isn’t just about size, or shape, it can be about when the lane begins or more importantly where it ends. A bike lane is only useful as part of a network. It makes little sense to establish a safe cycling area only to dump cyclists into frightening situations on unsafe roadways at any given moment.

The good news is that cities are building more and more bike lanes. But the evidence shows that some bike cycling lanes can actually be far less safe than if they didn’t exist at all. For instance, we all know sharrows do nothing to keep cyclists safe. But bike lanes encourage cyclists to ride there because of a perception of safety. If they aren’t designed properly what you end up with is more accidents and more risk for vulnerable road users.

The response also shows that bad bike lanes are everywhere. And more needs to be done to call them out and advocate for safe cycling infrastructure right now.

Without further adieu, here are the worst of the worst.

High-speed zones

Some of the worst bike lanes send cyclists near or directly onto highways, off-ramps, into oncoming vehicles or merging into fast-moving traffic in seriously unsafe ways. Have a look.

In Waterloo, cyclists pass over a series of train tracks and alongside a highway on-ramp.

Waterloo, Canada

In Austin, Texas, one commenter described this situation, “We got this brand new bike lane off a highway ramp as part of our 400 miles of mostly “all abilities all ages” bicycle network in Austin back in 2017!”

Austin, Texas
Death zone in Kuala Lumpur
Merge from hell in Langley, BC
Along the M5 Motorway in Sydney? Seems fine.
Not sure where this is, but don’t go there.
In Wellington alongside a 100 km/h highway. Are you mad?

Impediments

Some bike lanes are just bad in many different ways that involve natural obstructions or those stuck there by a sometimes comically unaware populace. Have a look.

Our favorite is this bike lane in Clearwater, Florida, which probably surprises no one. But there are many more.

Clearwater, Florida
Auckland, New Zealand
Bogota, Colombia
Yes, a house exterior and a hydro pole in Cajica, Colombia
What is happening in Langley, BC?
Macedonia
Marseille, France
San Paulo, Brazil

Hong Kong

We reserved a special place for the cycling infrastructure in Hong Kong because for some reason there were just a lot of really bad choices being made. Here are just a few.

What is happening here? A holding pen for angry cyclists?
Be very careful
What in the world?

Other random faves

Here are a few other bike lanes that fit into a few categories, or are just generally bonkers.

Berlin, Germany
Bucharest, in the centre of town near the Palace of Parliament
Buenos Aires bike lanes are intense
Cardiff, UK
Galway
Leeds, UK
Terrifying Skeldergate Bridge, York, UK
Washington, DC

The gems

Somewhere in Ireland
Kormend, Hungary

If you have any others, please share them with us via Twitter.

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